


even

by magicianprince



Category: Free!
Genre: (for makoto and haru anyway), Established Relationship, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 02:08:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2174010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianprince/pseuds/magicianprince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I’ll go if I have time," Haru says, stripping his shirt off in one fluid movement.</p><p>Makoto sighs, setting his shoes to the side. “It would be really nice. Kisumi seems excited to be able to talk to you again.”</p><p>"Hmm," is all Haru says to that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	even

Makoto comes back to his room, freshly showered, and is greeted by an unread mail. There’s only a few people that would message him this late in the evening—it couldn’t be Rei, because Rei doesn’t think it’s polite, and it’s unlikely to be Haru, because Haru only emails him when he has something truly important to say. He opens the message and scans the screen.

_[ hey can you give me haru’s email address?? ヽ(｀◇´)/ ]_

Continuing to scrub a towel through his wet hair, Makoto begins to type out a reply.

He and Kisumi had exchanged addresses almost immediately after reuniting; they’ve been messaging back and forth for about a week now, updating each other on what’s been going on in the few years they’ve been apart. This isn’t the first time he’s mentioned Haru, and Makoto isn’t surprised to learn that Haru hasn’t given his address to Kisumi yet.

_[ sure, but he doesn’t really keep his phone on him. ]_

_[ that’s cool i just wanna catch up! u and haru busy sunday? ]_

_[ i think we’re free. ♪♪ ]_

_[ let’s play basketball!! ]_

By the time they’ve finished planning when and where to meet up, Makoto is hiding huge yawns behind his hand. He climbs into bed just as Kisumi says he’s going to sleep; in the end he sends Haru’s email address to Kisumi as promised, decides to tell Haru about meeting up with Kisumi at practice tomorrow, and drifts off into an easy sleep.

:

"I’ll go if I have time," Haru says, stripping his shirt off in one fluid movement.

Makoto sighs, setting his shoes to the side. “It would be really nice. Kisumi seems excited to be able to talk to you again.”

"Hmm," is all Haru says to that.

:

 _[ Did you give Kisumi my email address?]_ Haru texts him later. Makoto doesn’t see the message until an hour after it’s sent.

_[ yes. did something happen? ]_

Predictably, Haru doesn’t respond. He doesn’t come to Makoto’s house the day that they’re supposed to meet Kisumi, either, and Makoto is ten minutes late because he misses the train sticking around hoping for Haru to show up after all.

:

"Do you dislike Kisumi?" Makoto asks tentatively the next time he and Haru are alone. He hadn’t really felt like Haru truly disliked Kisumi when they were in middle school, but maybe things have changed. Haru’s used to avoiding overly talkative people, even if they are childhood friends.

Haru frowns, and Makoto waits patiently. “No,” he replies eventually. “I just…don’t know how to deal with him.”

"So you need to get used to him again?"

Pondering that for a second, Haru shrugs. “Maybe.”

Makoto breathes a sigh of relief. 

:

_[ my brother won’t stop talking about u help ]_

_[ what, is he saying something bad? (′・Д・) ]_

_[ (^_−)−☆ nah just that he wants u to visit sc soon ]_

_[ how is his swimming going? ]_

_[ ehhh he’s still having a little trouble but u cant fix everything at once! i don’t wanna push him too soon ]_

_[ at least he isn’t scared anymore. ]_

_[ thanks for that btw! im glad it was u teaching him ]_

_[ i’m happy i could help. ♪ have you heard from haru recently? ]_

_[ he’s replied a few times! says he’ll take me shopping for a new swimsuit ]_

_[ hooray!＼(^o^)／ ~ !! ]_

_[ probably the only way i could get him to hang out with me (^^;; ]_

_[ it’s still a start, isn’t it? ]_

:

Makoto only knows what day Kisumi and Haru have agreed to hang out because Kisumi sends him a barrage of photos, all of himself in different swimsuits. Haru is presumably the one who took them; Makoto isn’t going to question how Kisumi convinced Haru to do it.

 _[ which one?? ]_ the last messages reads.

 _[ second one? ]_ Makoto types back.

_[ haru said that one too—since it’s been endorsed by two swimmers, i guess it’s coming home with me!! (-ω・`) ]_

:

"Did you have fun?"

Haru considers Makoto from over top of his math textbook. Makoto is struck with the realization that Haru knows something he doesn’t. 

"It was alright," he says. "He let me pick the restaurant."

:

Two weeks later, Kisumi opens a group message with him and Haru. By this time, Makoto has figured out why he wants Haru and Kisumi and himself to get along so much; it still scares him to think about it. If he tries too hard to decide what he should do about it, though, he feels like he’ll just make it worse. It’s easier to follow Kisumi’s lead, hold Haru’s hand when they’re alone, let Kisumi make plans upon plans with him and Haru, with him, with Haru.

_[ you guys have a beach right near you, right? wanna go with me? i need to test out this swimsuit on something other than chlorine ~☆ ]_

Makoto agrees to go right away—it takes Haru a little longer to respond, but he says he’ll go, probably finding no reason to turn down going to the beach. Kisumi says he’ll drop by over the weekend, and Makoto spends the next few days in school tapping the end of his pencil anxiously against the smooth surface of his desk. Logically, he knows he’s working himself up over nothing, and that this is just a beach visit with a couple of his friends, but no amount of telling himself untangles the knot of—of tension, or something. It’s silly.

"It’s because you think you’re looking forward to it too much," Haru tells him, unprompted, the day before Kisumi visits, "and you feel like you shouldn’t be. There’s nothing wrong with it."

Makoto stares at him for a moment, shocked, before breaking into a hesitant smile. “Are you looking forward to it, Haru?”

Seeming to expect the question, Haru looks away, gaze sliding down to the floor. “He always wants us to play basketball,” he starts. “And tomorrow he’s going to swim. It makes it fair.”

There are times when Haru is too vague even for Makoto to tell what he truly means. He interprets it as the ‘yes’ Haru most likely means it to be and settles back, waiting.

:

Haru darts for the ocean as soon as his feet touch sand, but not without calling a quick “come on,” over his shoulder. Kisumi sighs, but there’s a fond look on his face.

"Swimming’s that great, huh?" he says.

"It’s amazing," Makoto tells him. He doesn’t have to put effort into giving his voice conviction. Kisumi turns to grin at him, the breeze ruffling his unruly hair, and Makoto feels like between Kisumi’s smile and Haru’s unwavering devotion, he’s left floating adrift. How had this even happened? He’s loved Haru for years, but Kisumi shouldn’t even be interested, and even if he was, it couldn't be both—

"I think what’s truly amazing are the swimmers themselves," Kisumi says cheekily, giving him a wink and then turning towards the sea. "Think they’ll let me join them?"

Makoto’s mouth drops open. 

Seconds pass and he still hasn’t thought of a decent reply. Kisumi doesn’t seem to mind, shielding his eyes against the sun and looking for Haru. Makoto swallows and follows his gaze until he spots him, too, swimming steadily out to deeper waters.

"Let’s go," Kisumi says lightly. 

Haru chooses that moment to stop and start floating on his back, face tilted up towards the sky, utterly carefree. Makoto takes a deep breath, just watching him, knowing Kisumi is watching too, that Haru knows they're watching.

"Yeah," he says.

**Author's Note:**

> started as a small thing to loosen up a bit and became a slightly bigger but still small thing? this is the last fic i'll write before heading off to college probably and that is amazing. wow
> 
> anyway the story behind this is that i really wanted to write something with kisumi flirting with both haru and makoto. and haru knows the whole time. and makoto is like "oh no" because he hasn't figured it out. i'm not gonna lie i didn't think too hard about these concepts
> 
> NOTE: i have yet to read high speed 2 so i don't know how compliant this fic is with that!


End file.
